Colorado Supreme Court to hear 2 public records cases litigated by RCFP attorney
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is earning praise for its Colorado Local Legal Initiative’s work helping newsrooms fight two important public records cases all the way to the state’s highest court.
Journalist Corey Hutchins, who writes “Inside the News in Colorado,” spoke with Reporters Committee Local Legal Initiative attorney Rachael Johnson about what she said was the Colorado Supreme Court’s “pretty remarkable” decision to hear two transparency cases brought by local newsrooms.
In July, the Colorado Supreme Court accepted a case in which The Sentinel Colorado is seeking to obtain a recording of an unlawfully held secret meeting related to the censure of an Aurora city councilwoman. That followed its decision in February to take up a separate public records case brought by The Gazette and The Invisible Institute in which the two newsrooms are fighting for access to a database containing records about the certification and training of law enforcement officers in Colorado.
“Colorado is lucky,” Hutchins wrote in the Aug. 30 edition of his newsletter. “We’re a state with a pro-bono attorney from the national Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, through the Local Legal Initiative, who will take these cases for news outlets all the way up to the state’s highest court.”
The same day that it agreed to take on The Sentinel case, the Colorado Supreme Court declined to hear a third case that Johnson brought on behalf of journalist Mark Reaman, editor of Crested Butte News. That case concerned public access to forms submitted to public libraries requesting the removal or reclassification of library books.
The court’s decision to decline the case didn’t come as a surprise, however, since the state legislature resolved the issue at the heart of the matter by passing a bill that Gov. Jared Polis signed in May making requests to ban library books publicly accessible under the Colorado Open Records Act.
The three cases illustrate the Reporters Committee’s commitment to pushing for increased transparency and accountability in state and local government — no matter how long it takes. As Johnson told Hutchins, “Government denials of access will not go unchallenged.”
The Reporters Committee regularly files friend-of-the-court briefs and its attorneys represent journalists and news organizations pro bono in court cases that involve First Amendment freedoms, the newsgathering rights of journalists and access to public information. Stay up-to-date on our work by signing up for our monthly newsletter and following us on Twitter or Instagram.